We found out in February that the Lord has blessed our family with a baby! We’re continuing to pray that this baby will be a sticky one. So far, so good. I had an ultrasound last week and we saw a baby with a strong heartbeat. Nausea and exhaustion have been my friends for the past several weeks which we are taking as good signs.
I debated on whether to post at all. We have gone through two miscarriages in the past two years and lost three babies. Knowing we had a missed miscarriage in 2015 (where we saw the heartbeat and then the baby later passed) in the midst of all of Emmie’s stuff, we chose to keep silent with the babies in November and December until it was “safe.” It was so very hard mourning in silence. Especially when it was our two babies. I still haven’t been able to put into words a memorial like I did with our baby Isaac.
Recently, I’ve read several articles about how we hide miscarriages. Try not to share pregnancy too early for fear the baby won’t ever be held…I’m not sure why we hide. Why do we need to mourn in silence? In the past two years, we’ve have three babies who are gone forever. But, before they were gone, they were here. They were a blessing and they were our gifts.
Just like our babies we said good-bye to too soon, this baby, is a blessing. All babies are. Something I shared when we found out we were pregnant with Emmie after our hardest miscarriage was this exact fact.
We’re cautiously optimistic with this baby. Anything can happen. Experience has taught us that. But today, we choose to celebrate in our blessing. In all of the exhaustion and nausea. This baby is a blessing. This baby is loved. This baby is wanted. Oh is this baby wanted.
It may have been November but we had some wonderful warm weather park days.
Sleeping. With her glasses. Of course.
I thought I had some crazy hair days.
Family movie night with Chinese food and Kung Fu Panda. Yep. Yep. (Okay, I also had the dining room table covered in schoolwork)
Emmie was getting ready for her television debut for promoting the NF Walk. It happened so fast, I didn’t get to grab a picture with the anchor. It was a great opportunity and we are so grateful for all of our news agencies who shared about the event.
A Knight and Warrior Princess! 
After the NF Walk, we headed home for a break and then off to Cracker Barrel to celebrate my birthday. The kids were quite the talk with all the face paint.
Ace exploded sticks-a gift from Aunt Yaya and Uncle J.
We went downtown (before the game, of course), to celebrate Small Business Saturday. 
Bryant loved his birthday gift from Aunt Yaya and Uncle J.
Emmie was ready for the game.
Mark put Papa to work on the patio.
The girls enjoyed watching the Macy’s Parade.
Emmie found a walking stick.
Everyone signed the Thanksgiving clothe.
Can you tell Josiah was super excited about the food? Mainly the turkey.
Our spread.
Full table…full hearts.
Zoe was our napkin folder again.
One of my favorite pictures. My super hero walking with two pretty amazing sidekicks. Who else can claim to be best buddies with Queen Elsa?
Or Ariel? Emmie loves Ariel because she has pink hair. 
Our NF Hero getting her medal.
We were thrilled that we had all three of our local news networks come out to interview and tape our walk! 
Have you ever seen the 
Nothing like selfies with daddy.
When you reach a certain age of dishwashing, there is a rite of passage that goes down in our house. We call it the “YouDid” secret. Because of privacy policies, I can not disclose what the rite of passage involves. I can say that it involves a story of how a 
Emmie sat in a lawn chair in the driveway at our street party. She leaned forward. Her head met the pavement. This bruise made me sick to look at, but we were so blessed that she just had a nice little toddler bump.
Silas loves catching lizards. Thankfully, our property is covered in them!
This is what we did…go to a trampoline park (this was not our first trip). Mark had to leave early for work. As our hour was up, we started heading out. I was busy making sure people had shoes on and buddy hands and all of their stuff. By the time we got to the parking lot, Zoe let out a giant scream. She was going for a split on her last jump and her foot caught underneath her. Leg moved. Foot didn’t. After x-rays and a week of rest, she was as good as new. Once again, she managed to avoid a break. But it was a high ankle sprain.
On October 31st, Krispy Kreme gives a free doughnut to anyone dressed in costume. The kids were game and went to work the day before to find things around their house for their costumes. We have Anna (the mama), Alice in Wonderland, Spiderman and a slew of characters from The Wingfeather Saga book series.
While Mark worked on our chosen designs to carve, the kids got to work painting baby pumpkins.
While he continued to work, they started rolling down the hill.
I mustache you if this was a cute pumpkin!
Touch a snake. I love petting snakes! At least a couple of the kids were willing to pet too.
Sky high kids.
Saying hello to da birds.
Trying to catch a glimpse of sea lions.
Come home. Get a haircut.
Silas enjoys helping with vacuuming.
Silas was super excited to wear his vishyvanka (traditional Ukrainian shirt) to his first Sunday at church.
Silas found the hair gel. I think he might have used almost all of it.
Blue haired Malachi the day after our Awana Crazy Hair Night.
When your Ukrainian-American requests borscht. You make borscht and a nice cucumber salad for bonus points.
Sliding on the floor. Why? Why not?
Talk Like a Pirate Day means free doughnuts for our crew with more to share.
We dropped off doughnuts to our local fire department and they treated us to a tour of the station. Then the station EMT let us see the inside of his ambulance. Pretty cool. He even hooked up Silas (the only volunteer) to the heart monitor.
Washcloths on heads.
